7:22 p.m.: Man in a red sports car shouts, "Singing to the choir, aren't we?" Realize that on April 15, everyone's a Libertarian.

7:32 p.m.: A man in a BMW gives the thumbs-up signal to a woman carrying an "IRS: It's Really Stupid" sign.

7:33 p.m.: Observe that despite being right across from the Times OC building, there is no Times OC reporter in sight. Fucking tax-and-spend liberals.

7:35 p.m.: Inquire whether anyone is actively rebelling against paying their taxes this year, leading to riveting intellectual debate about changing the system from within the law and the legality of extorting cash from American citizens. Bored now! Walk to other corner to investigate giant, symbolic, Styrofoam toilet.

7:40 p.m.: A red-haired woman standing near the giant, symbolic, Styrofoam toilet explains that if we didn't have taxes, entrepreneurs would be able to build better toilets.

7:41 p.m.: Another Libertarian explains they're not your WTO-type protesters but that he once got the shit kicked out of him for demonstrating in favor of gun rights.

7:42 p.m.: Decide not to piss that guy off.

7:47 p.m.: A woman and I compare notes on our both getting screwed for $1,600 because we got married in 2000.

7:55 p.m.: Return to other corner, where Libertarian protesters are explaining the unfairness of the self-perpetuating prison-industrial complex to an elderly Asian man who is obviously sympathetic but is struggling with his English.

7:56 p.m.: Frat boys, also evidently struggling with their English, drive by and shout, "IRS sucks!!"

8:01 p.m.: A woman explains that she's shouting, "Flush it, and wash your hands with stone soap!" to draw parallels with Nazi Germany. When asked if that might be devaluing the trauma of Holocaust survivors, she refers me to the book IBM and the Holocaust.

8:03 p.m.: Decide to go inside, where tensions are rising over one man's inability to use the stamp machine. Smirk.

8:31 p.m.: Encounter protesters locked in intellectual debate with former border cop. OC Libertarian Party vice chairman Doug Scribner argues elegantly about personal freedom and the need for drug addicts to be medically treated. Ex-cop's arguments keep coming back to "But they broke the law!" Still, he asks for info on next Libertarian Party meeting.